The production of acyl lactams can be difficult because it, many times, involves the formation of the anhydride or acid chloride of the acylating acid prior to the acylating reaction. Further, when the acyl lactam is to be used in industrial applications, such as for use as bleach activators in detergent compositions, the reaction by-products, i.e., HCl, and NaCl, must be removed from the acyl lactam product. Consequently, such typical reactions can be costly and unacceptable for industrial applications. Furthermore, the reaction by-products can be difficult to dispose of and can contribute to environmental concerns. A need, therefore, exists for a process that can be conducted using relatively simple chemistry and which avoids costly by-product removal.
Moreover, to avoid long reaction times, acid chloride, acid anhydride, and transacylation chemistry frequently must be conducted a relatively high temperatures which leads to low yields, to polymerization by-products and to coloration problems in the product. To avoid the need for a costly purification step, the process should provide products in high yield and which are substantially pure and with good color. The present invention solves problems associated with known high temperature reactions.